Battery-plate



(No Model.)

' E. P. USHER & W. F. DRAPER.

BATTERY PLATE- Patented Aug. 16, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD P. USHER, OF GRAFTON, AND WILLIAM F. DRAPER, OF HOPEDALE,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE HOPEDALE ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF

WVEST VIRGINIA.

BATTERY-PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,886, dated August16, 1892.

Application filed February 19, 1892. Serial No. 422,072. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD P. USHER, of Grafton, and WILLIAM F. DRAPER,of Hopedale, both in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts,havejointly invented certain new anduseful Improvements inBattery-Plates, of which the following, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification.

Ourimprovements relate to battery-plates which are peculiar in beingdestitute of a skeleton or internal supporting-frame.

Our invention is embodied in a tablet or shell of finely-perforatedlead-foil or the like filled with dry powdered oxide of lead andhavingacentral longitudinalcon'ducting-stripprotrudingfromoneend,andinaseriesof these tablets having theirconducting-strips united transversely, and also in such series of unitedtablets inclosed by a frame and side plates suitably bound thereto,forming a positive plate Without an internal skeleton.

Our invention is further embodied in said series of united tablets heldsubstantially par- 2 5 allel by transverse perforated strips orequivalent external binders which surround the several tablets andproject therefrom to insure an open space between adjacent plates andtablets for free circulation of the electrolyte.

The foil wrapper is exceedingly thin, each leaf or fold being aboutfourone-thousandths of an inch in thickness, and the powdered materialinclosed is speedily transformed into a tablet or stick as the wrapperdisintegrates by the action of the acid in forming the plate. 1

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan of one of the tablets with itsprotruding conductingstrip. Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of thepositive plates, showing the parallel tablets with their conductorsconnected and the marginal frame. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of thesame. Figs.4, 5, and 6 show three forms of the transverse externalbinders or spacing devices for the tablets, Fig. 6 also showing thetablets and conductors in cross-section. Fig.

7 represents the negative plate with the spacing-strips in position onthe tablets.

In the construction of our improved plates We prepare a quantity oftablets as follows: We take lead-foil and make a case, or shell A, whichmay be one inch wide, five thirty-seconds of an inch thick, and sixinches long. These dimensions and the others stated may of course ,besomewhat varied; but to secure olearness we herein describe thepreparation of a plate of definite size. Into these shells weinsertastripB of metallicleador otherconducting substance aboutone-sixteenth of an inch thick, one-fourth of an inch Wide, and seveninches long, seeking to place this strip as near the center of the shellas possible with one end protruding. WVe then fill the shell with a drypowder C, consisting of peroxide of lead, red lead or litharge, or otheroxides of lead. This powder we pack as firmly as possible, and when itis completed we have a firm tablet, from one end of which protrudes thestrip B of metallic lead or other conducting substance. This wrapper orshell We prick as full as possible of minute holes or form it of a sheetpreviously perforated in order to allow the acid to act upon the activematerial inclosed therein.

To prepare a positive plate, we take a given 7 5 number of thesetabletssay sixand lay them side by side and close together on a thinwooden plate D, Fig. 3, which is somewhat larger on the sides and bottomthan the space occupied by the six tablets. lVe then place upon themargins of this wooden plate and so as to surround the tablets on threesides a frame E, which is made of wood, rubber, or other suitablesubstance. This frame is onefourth of an inch wide and fivethirty-seconds of an inch thick, or thereabout. (See Fig. 2.) Over thesetablets and frame we lay another wooden plate and bind the wholetogether with two or more rubberbands F. The pieces B, protruding fromthe six tablets, we connect together transversely by a horizontal bar G,as in Fig. 2, to which they may be soldered or joined by the bar beingcast or molded to them.

To prepare our negative plate, we take a given number of the tablets-sayfive-perhaps four properly-recessed strips H, made seven thirty-secondsof an inch wide, six and one-half inches long, and one-eighth of an inchthick. These strips may be made of rubber or lead or any rigid orsemi-rigid substance. (See Figs. 4 and 5.). The recesses in the strips Hare to be of such size as to per- .Init a tablet being pushed throughthem. We

take the tablets and push each one through arecess in each of the fourstrips, which thus connect and hold them together, with a slight,

space between adjacent tablets, the strips being distributed at equaldistances on the tablets, as shown in Fig. 7. Therecessed strips H maybe formed in halves, as indicated in Fig. 5, in which case they arebrought together laterally to embrace the several tablets instead ofintroducing the tablets endwise through the openings. Rubber cords orother flexible. binders may be passed around and sinuously between theseveral tablets, as in Fig. 6, in lieu of the recessed strips H, thesebinders in either form projecting beyond the face of the several tabletsand leaving space between them, thns'promoting a free circulation. Wethen connect the pieces B protruding from the tablets with a bar G, asin the case of a positive plate. Between each tablet and the next on anegative plate there will be an open space, which materially aidscirculation of the electrolyte.

We disclaim as a wrapper metallic sheetlead of even the thinnest knowngrades andits equivalent formed of a wrapper of leadfoil and a fillingof dry powder, with a conducting-strip embedded therein and protrudingtherefrom, substantially as set forth.

2. Abattery-plate consisting of aseries of connected tablets A, eachcomposed of a wrapper of lead-foil and a filling of oxide of lead asactive material and each having a protruding conducting-strip B, unitedto a transverse strip or bar G, substantially as set forth.

3. A battery-plate having a series of tablets, each composed of awrapper of lead-foil and a filling of oxide of lead as active materialand each furnished with a protruding conducting-strip B, united toatransverse bar G, such tablets having the transverse binders orspacing-strips H, substantially as set forth.

4. A battery-plate composed of a series of parallel tablets of activematerial inclosed in a wrapper of perforated lead-foil, with aconducting-strip protruding from eachtablet, and a transverseconnecting-bar, in combination with wooden separators at each side ofthe series of tablets and a marginal frame, substantially as set forth.

5. A battery-plate composed of a series of parallel tablets, eachcomposed of a wrapper of lead-toil and a filling of oxide of lead asactive material and each having a protruding conducting-strip, saidtablets being firmly held with an open space between each tablet and thenext one on said plate, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 16th day of February,A. D. 1892.

EDWARD P. USHER. WILLIAM F. DRAPER. Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. ROGERS, ALBERT G. MORSE.

